Katherine Garbera - What Happens In Vegas...

“What imperfections?” he asked in such a way that she knew he didn’t think she had any.

She shrugged. She knew she had them. She spent the majority of her time sitting in an office working. Though she tried to make it to the gym, most days she didn’t.

Her thighs were soft, and no matter how many sit-ups or ab crunches she did, she’d always have a slight swell of a belly. Still, she was happy in her body, it was who she was. She just didn’t like to see herself in bright light. Didn’t like letting anyone see her looking anything but perfect.

“Don’t make me say it out loud,” she said carefully. Looks had always been important. Her mother had drilled that into her through Shelby’s childhood. “Looks are all a woman has when she’s poor,” Terri Paxton would say. But Shelby had found that brains were better than looks.

“Okay, I won’t. Did you make plans for us tonight?” he asked.

Yes, but she was playing her cards close to her chest on this one. “I’m still trying to come up with something you’ll like.”

He was quiet for a long minute and she could hear only the sound of his exhalation over the open line. “I like being with you, Shel. I always have.”

She hugged one arm around her waist and tried not to let the words settle around her heart but they did. She felt a welling of emotion that she hadn’t felt in a long time. “You know the right things to say to make a woman buy leather undergarments.”

He laughed again and she smiled to herself, pushing aside the deep feelings his comment had evoked. She had to keep her balance here.

“That was my plan,” he said.

“I don’t know you well enough,” she replied slowly.

“I’ll show you. Want to spend the night in the casino?”

“I’m not a big gambler. I like to have something to show for my money after I’ve spent it.”

“Like what?”

“Shoes,” she said.

“Shoes? An evening in the casino is better than shoes.”

She took a deep breath. “Well, maybe one thing is better than shoes.”

“Sex?”

“With you,” she said, hanging up the phone. She winked at the camera and put the bustier and matching thong in a gold Bêcheur d’Or’s gift bag and placed it on the counter next to her purse.

Hayden spent the day making arrangements for the World Champion Celebrity Poker Showdown. The televised competition would air next month and the producer and her two production assistants were in Vegas for twenty-four hours to get the layout.

Scott Rivers was one of the best poker players in the world and had been a child star of movies and a television show that had run for fifteen years. He’d grown up on TV and Scott liked to say everyone thought they knew him.

But few did. Even after all this time, Hayden still suspected there was a part of Scott that was kept hidden. Growing up in the spotlight had made Scott something of a chameleon. In fact, Hayden had never seen his friend in a situation that he wasn’t at home in.

Scott was one of the few people who’d seen him at his lowest. And that had forged a relationship in which both men felt comfortable with each other. Scott was one of his closest friends and Hayden was glad he would be visiting soon. Also, talking with the television people was a distraction. Seeing Shelby this morning, flirting with her on the phone and watching her like some lust-crazed man…well, it wasn’t conducive to work.

His cell phone rang as he entered his private elevator. “MacKenzie.”

“Hey, Mac Daddy. You up for poker tonight?” Deacon asked.

“Can’t. Maybe next month when Scott is here.”

“Next month? How about tomorrow night?”

“I’m busy.”

“With whom?”

“Why do you suddenly need something to do in the evenings?”

“Ah, let’s just say that it’s better if Kylie thinks I’m busy.”

“Lying to your wife?”

“No. What are you doing? Dating that redhead in the lingerie store?”

Hayden wished sometimes that he and Deacon weren’t such close friends, but the truth of the matter was, Deacon was one of the few people Hayden allowed himself to care about. “Maybe.”

“Great. Bring her over. We can all have dinner.”

“Can’t. We have plans.”

“Please?”

“What does Kylie have you doing tonight?”

“Dinner with the Vegas Preservation League. A bunch of wealthy do-gooders.”

Hayden felt for his friend. Deacon had grown up on the Vegas streets being looked down on by the very people Kylie had invited into his home. “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Page me at eight-thirty.”

Hayden laughed. He knew Deacon might want to leave but wouldn’t. He wanted to be with his wife. He was besotted with the woman and wouldn’t leave her side in spite of the VPL.

“Later, Deac.”

“Later.”

Hayden rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped off the elevator. God, he hoped he was never so wrapped up in a woman that he was willing to sit through something like that dinner.

Shelby was waiting for him by his penthouse door.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He dropped his hands, walking toward her. “I am now.”

He leaned down to claim the kiss he’d been craving all day. She stood on tiptoe, leaning into his body. He cradled her to him, cupping her face in both hands and angling her head for deeper penetration.

His entire body tightened in anticipation. God, he wanted her. This wasn’t a lust thing that could be satisfied with any other woman. He craved her taste on his tongue. Her soft skin under his hands. Her soft curvy body against his muscular frame.

He whispered her name against her skin, skimming his mouth down the line of her neck and nibbling on the pulse beating so strongly at the base. She said his name in a throaty voice.

He bit her gently and she arched closer to him. He licked the spot and then suckled her there. He wanted to brand her as his. To make sure that any other man who saw her knew she was taken. That she already had a man.

She sighed, tunneling her hands into his hair and pulling back from him.

He raised both eyebrows at her. “Please say we’re staying in.”

“Not quite,” she said. Her face was flushed and her lips were wet and swollen. She looked as if he’d done so much more than kiss her. He skimmed his gaze down her neck and was pleased to see the mark of his possession there.

“I figured out something for us to do, but I couldn’t catch you before you left your office.”

She wore a pair of khaki-colored capri pants and a black tank top. Her hair was twisted up and tendrils curled softly around her face. Her eyes were wide and questioning. Clearly she was unsure if she’d made the right choice.

“Great. What’d you decide? Do you want to take me to a private gentleman’s club?”

“Has any woman ever suggested such a thing?” she asked in that haughty way of hers. This was part of the new Shelby. The old Shelby was very pliable. She’d done whatever he said and never stood up to him. But this new woman had a backbone and too much sass.

“I’ve seen it happen in movies,” he said with a grin. She made him happy deep inside where he’d been alone for too long.

“What kind of movies?”

He tipped his head to the side. “Come to think of it, not the kind of movie you’d watch.”

“Sex movies?”

“Uh, I’m pleading the Fifth on this one,” he said, taking her hand and leading her into his home.

Her deal with Alan had some pluses to it. Shelby had made arrangements to have Hayden’s yacht readied for them. Lake Mead was located just east of Vegas and Shelby had gotten driving directions from the bell stand earlier before going to get Hayden.

Shelby felt a little bit of dread at the thought of someday having to reveal to Hayden that his father was once again behind the scenes manipulating things. She made the decision right then to stop talking to Alan. She wanted to learn about Hayden on her own, not through his father’s scrutiny.